02-26-2003, 09:33 PM
Politically, Occhi, I believe the decisions were hard, but needed to be made. They were not morally pure, but that's the nature of war; that's why we try to avoid it.
The problem I have now is why, in 2003, we seem to not be learning anything from 1945.
Back onto the thought of civilian casualties, it might do one to remember that the economic sanctions have already killed off quite a bit of Iraqi civilians, so in a sense, war has already begun. I wonder why the US is so impatient to stop nickel-and-diming an impoverished nation to death and go for the sucker punch: it's not an act of defense, and it's certainly not humanitarian, so why?
If the willing shields wish to be martyrs to the cause, then so be it - not a lot of people have been willing to die for peaceful beliefs lately, and they make the statement they want to make: governments no longer care about their populations. If a few Americans die, #$%& 'em: they're only Americans, after all. Nothing makes them special...given Dubbie's treatment of his home ground and the amount of useful information regarding Iraq, I'm certainly inclined to believe that he doesn't think much of Americans at all. If a few civilians die, #$%& 'em, they got in the way. The problem is, Dubbie won't own up to that logic: he says civilian deaths will be minimized, but the strategy calls for constant bombing and a "shock and awe" strategy. The two seem not to mix.
The problem I have now is why, in 2003, we seem to not be learning anything from 1945.
Back onto the thought of civilian casualties, it might do one to remember that the economic sanctions have already killed off quite a bit of Iraqi civilians, so in a sense, war has already begun. I wonder why the US is so impatient to stop nickel-and-diming an impoverished nation to death and go for the sucker punch: it's not an act of defense, and it's certainly not humanitarian, so why?
If the willing shields wish to be martyrs to the cause, then so be it - not a lot of people have been willing to die for peaceful beliefs lately, and they make the statement they want to make: governments no longer care about their populations. If a few Americans die, #$%& 'em: they're only Americans, after all. Nothing makes them special...given Dubbie's treatment of his home ground and the amount of useful information regarding Iraq, I'm certainly inclined to believe that he doesn't think much of Americans at all. If a few civilians die, #$%& 'em, they got in the way. The problem is, Dubbie won't own up to that logic: he says civilian deaths will be minimized, but the strategy calls for constant bombing and a "shock and awe" strategy. The two seem not to mix.